When it comes to handguns, Texans it seems will never tire of bringing them to the airport, at least according to numbers released by the Transportation Security Administration.

Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport were second and third only to Atlanta when it comes to the number of loaded or chambered handguns confiscated at TSA checkpoints during 2013, according to the Medill National Security Journalism Initiative, which analyzed the cumulative TSA data found on the agency's official blog.

Rounding out the top five were Phoenix and Denver. According the Medill report, the number of guns found has been increasingly steadily since 2010, when just over 1,120 were discovered.

Carrie Harmon, TSA Regional Public Affairs Manager, said that as of mid-December, the TSA had detected approximately 1,750 guns at checkpoints in 2013. They were waiting on final figures for the last two weeks of the year as of this writing.

Brian Mobley, a concealed handgun instructor at the Arm's Room in League City says the rise in confiscated weapons has everything to do with the rise in number of Americans who are carrying these days.

"Most of the weapons confiscated in 2013 had gun permits and were found in the carry-on luggage of passengers," he says. Add to that a lack of gun education and you have problems at checkpoints.

An overwhelming number of the handguns found were .380s, which are popular with those who are licensed to carry a concealed handgun.

Jim Pruett, with Jim Pruett's Guns & Ammo, says he can't stress enough to gun owners the need to be thorough when preparing to travel by air.

"So many times people leave their guns in their carry-on bags or even their golf bags," Pruett says.

Recently an employee of his wore a shooting vest on a plane with a 9mm round tucked inside. It had fallen into a compartment without the employee's knowledge. Needless to say, even a stray bullet was cause for alarm for TSA officials and the employee was pulled aside and frisked.

Harmon reiterated that passengers who bring firearms to TSA checkpoints are subject to possible criminal charges from law enforcement and civil penalties from TSA, no matter how innocent their circumstances may be.

"Firearms, firearm parts and ammunition are always prohibited in carry-on bags," said Harmon. You can include them in your checked bags, if you follow the rules they have posted on their official website.

Douglas Laird, an airport security expert and former secret service agent, told Fox News that these numbers shouldn't be cause for applause of the TSA.

"If you look at the numbers, none of them are terrorists," Laird said. "They are people who violated TSA rules."